The present invention relates to an electric compressor having an inverter device.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-252398 discloses an electric compressor for a vehicle air conditioner. The electric compressor has a housing having therein a motor and a compression mechanism driven by the motor. An inverter box is integrally formed with the housing at the outer periphery thereof. The inverter box has therein an inverter substrate supplying electric power for driving the motor. (In the following, the inverter substrate may be referred to merely as “substrate.”)
In the electric compressor thus having the inverter box integrally formed with the housing, vibration of the vehicle or the motor transmits to the inverter substrate in the inverter box, so that the inverter substrate may also be vibrated. The vibration of the inverter substrate may decrease the durability of parts mounted on the substrate, with the result that the performance of the inverter substrate may be adversely affected. The above-described electric compressor suppresses vibration by fastening the inverter substrate to the inverter box by a plurality of fasteners. Although the use of such fasteners successfully suppresses the vibration of a portion of the inverter substrate that is adjacent to the fasteners, the vibration of a portion of the inverter substrate that is remote from the fasteners cannot be suppressed successfully.
It may be contemplated to provide additional fasteners at the remote position of the substrate for suppression of the vibration. However, the provision of additional fasteners requires a space on the substrate for threaded holes for the fasteners, with the result that space efficiency of the substrate is decreased.
The present invention is directed to providing an electric compressor that suppresses the vibration of the inverter substrate while maintaining the space efficiency of the inverter substrate.